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Magecraft
'Magecraft' Magecraft is a relatively new school of magic - meaning that it was established "only" three hundred years ago. It is a versatile and unique use of arcane arts, shaped by knowledge and self control to allow mages to impose their will on the living and artificial world around them. In layman's terms, it is a way to manipulate the spirits of objects and the very space around them to aid in their endeavors. The entire field was founded, essentially, to expand on the loopholes in existing arcane theory and to fill in the 'gaps' in Elemental Magic's abilities. Also unique concerning Magecraft is that it is the one kind of magic taught to elves by the humans - the elves taught humans Elemental Magic, and most other schools of magic were developed haphazardly enough that tracing their origins is difficult. Those who practice Magecraft are known as Wizards. At its core, Magecraft involves exploiting, rather than being hindered by, the abstract, artificial, and conceptual nature of crafted and worked objects and sapient constructs such as space and time - like all other things, these have spirits associated with them, but remain outside the purview of most other types of magic due to the highly focused nature of these spirits - the spirit of a water clock is far less malleable than that of a boulder or lake. Wizards take advantage of this by "overwriting" the purpose and function of the object's spirit with one of their own design: a chair can be made to dance, a broom to sweep up the shop all by itself, or - less whimiscally - a sword can be made to fling itself at an opponent's face repeatedly. Where the art truly becomes amazing, though, is that this same principle can be applied to the local spirits of space and time - spirits that were only theorized to exist until the invention of Magecraft. Appeals to these highly subjective spirits can be used to telekinetically manipulate objects and even living creatures, or alter the flow of time in an area to speed or slow motion. It is, needless to say, a very versatile and sought after type of magic. These two varieties of Magecraft also form its two subschools - Animation and Manipulation. 'Wizards in the World' There is no special stigma attached to being a Wizard as opposed to another kind of "legitimate" mage, such as Diviners or Elementalists. As this magic is a human invention and can be taught to anyone, wizards are growing in popularity and numbers. While not everyone has a talent for it, those that do can develop it under the instruction of any skilled tutor, or even on their own - although self-taught wizards do occasionally end up perishing through poorly-conceived animation spells that end with them being hurled through a third-story window by an overly fastidious wardrobe. Due to general versatility and the fact that most tend to be highly educated, Wizards can typically find work easily. 'Limits of Magecraft' Despite the brilliance of the work put into it, Magecraft is far from all-powerful. It cannot reshape, transmute, or alter the fundamental physical properties of anything, as Elemental Magic can. It cannot alter the perceptions or thoughts of any creature, as the dreaded Beguilers can. Even when operating within its purview, however, Magecraft can only alter the properties of objects, space, or time to the extent that the wizard using it can understand what they want to do - the spells involved are very complicated and fiddly, and unlike the more poetic and spiritually guided Elementalists must be extremely specific concerning what is supposed to happen and how. Additionally, permanently altering an object's properities requires a great deal more effort than a temporary fix, meaning that Wizards cannot permanently 'enchant' objects without specialized training, just as with every other school of magic. 'Mechanics of Magecraft' Magecraft costs 5 AP per rank, and operates as a High Utility advantage that is also useable at Short and Mid Ranged Combat. This is, at the current time, the only way to bring Animation to Mid Range (and high utility) or to use Manipulation in short range combat. Both Animation and Manipulation are subschools that can be taken as a separate advantage. Like all advantages with subschools, it stacks with ranks in subschool advantages to determine what effects are possible - someone with two ranks in Magecraft and one in Animation effectively has three ranks in Animation for the purposes of determining what their Animation can really do. Additionally, and also like all advantages with subschools, a single rank in each subschool can be "traded in" in exchange for a rank of Magecraft plus the difference in AP cost. Unlike either of its subschools, Magecraft is difficult to defend against. It cannot be negated by resistance to any of its subschools unless resistance is purchased for both subschools, and can no longer be protected against by armor. Magecraft cannot be vetoed by objecting to the use of any of its subschools on an environmental basis, as the Wizard can simply attack with pure telekinesis or temporal distortion if all else fails. Manipulation requires line of sight or line of effect to function, at least at low ranks, but Animation - once the initial animating is done - does not, and 'programmed' objects can run around corners or even go across town, if the Wizard is capable enough. 'Common Magecraft Spells' A Wizard can be assumed to have all of the common spells of Animation Magic and Manipulation Magic available to them. However, despite the Wizard's broader range of tricks, some tried-and-true methods are available to those wishing to master the school itself... *The Invisible Man - Despite the name, the Wizard casting this spell does not become invisible. Instead, the Wizard has animated an invisible construct of pure force, and the effect is frequently mistaken for some kind of poltergeist by the uninitiated. This invisible construct can be set to do a number of things, losing out in initiative and flexibility compared to an Elemental Mage's Omnimental Minion but gaining the ability to walk away and do something else, confident that the Invisible Man will continue to carry out instructions. *Denial - While Animators and Manipulators have range issues, the Wizard is more flexible than that, capable of throwing up a shield of spatial and temporal shenanigans that makes it increasingly difficult to hit the Wizard. The exception comes from long-range attacks, which tend to be unexpected and unpredicatable enough to slip through... *Warped Battlefield - Limited only by extreme range, a Wizard can turn a localized area of up to a hundred yards in all directions into his or her personal playground. Timing is always skewed in the Wizard's favor, and the shortest distance between two points is no longer necessarily a straight line. This and Denial, properly applied, allow a Wizard to mercilessly hammer an opponent. 'Rare Magecraft Spells' Even Wizards of great power and proficiency sometimes need specialized training. When they receive it, though, the effects can strain the boundaries of what could be considered arcane magic. The following spells each require a separate advantage. *Stasis - The Wizard's mastery over temporal spirits is such that they can divide and conquer no matter the situation. A Wizard employing Stasis can ensnare themselves or their opponents in a space where time has been dragged almost to a stop - for a limited amount of "real" time. *True Invisibility - Bizarrely, many Wizards learn what some Beguilers never do - how to render themselves completely unseen. The technique is vastly different, relying on diverting light around themselves rather than tricking their targets through mental invasion, but the effect is the same. *Magic Missile - With such difficulties involved in targeting opponents, some Wizards finally found a way to overcome those and their range limits at the same time - by using a less sophisticated and more powerful version of the Invisible Man technique to animate a blast of force, programming it to seek out and slam into a target at any range. Despite the crude nature of the spell, it is surprisingly effective versus opponents who are not heavily armored. *Time Travel - To date, this spell is only a rumor. Wizards remain divided on whether or not Time Travel is even possible, and those that believe it to be attainable have different theories about how it could be achieved, not to mention the ongoing arguments about determinism and paradox. As it stands, the basic principle - convince a temporal spirit to carry the caster backwards or forwards in time - is sound, but would require power unknown to any mortal, spirit, or demigod. The most frequently utilized analogy is that it would be similar to a Water Mage trying to reverse every tidal cycle on the planet at once. There have been attempts to find a shortcut or loophole, but the best of them have ended with a withered, ancient corpse collapsing where seconds before had stood a healthy man or woman in their prime. Time Travel cannot be taken as an advantage. Please see the moderators if you have an idea reliant upon time travel.